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Fumito Ueda
| birth_place = Tatsuno, Hyōgo, Japan | occupation = Game director, screenwriter, game designer | years_active = 1996–present | notable_works = }} is a Japanese video game designer. Ueda is best known as the director and lead designer of ''Ico (2001), Shadow of the Colossus (2005), and The Last Guardian (2016). His games have achieved cult status and are distinguished by their economy of plot and scenario, use of overexposed, desaturated light, fictional languages, and minimal dialogue. He has been described by some as a video game auteur. Biography Early times Born in Tatsuno, Ueda graduated from the Osaka University of Arts in 1993. In 1995, after trying to make a living as an artist, Ueda decided to pursue a career in the video game industry. He joined video game developer WARP and worked as an animator on the game Enemy Zero for the Sega Saturn under video game director Kenji Eno. He described his time there as "arduous", as the game was behind schedule and everyone on the project had to work more than normal to meet the release deadline. Eno, who also owned the company, did not think he was that great a CG artist, but handpicked Ueda because of his talent with concepts and design. Ueda worked at the developer for a year and a half.https://twitter.com/fumito_ueda/status/304575060109303809 2000s: Sony In 1997, Ueda successfully joined Sony Computer Entertainment as a first-party developer. In Sony Computer Entertainment's SIE Japan Studio, he began work on Ico. After Ico, Ueda and his small team, better known as Team Ico started working on a game originally titled NICO, but later retitled as Shadow of the Colossus. In February 2007, Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu reported that Ueda and his team were working on a new game for the PlayStation 3. No details about the unnamed title were revealed. In 2008, in the August edition of PlayStation Magazine, Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida described the game as "really, really good". Yoshida also commented that both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus took 4 years to develop as a hint that the game is under production, but is not close to release. E3 2009 revealed the game as The Last Guardian, the trailer for which suggests a saga involving elements of both Ico and Shadow of the Colossus wherein a young boy resembling Ico partners up with a colossus-sized companion to complete puzzles. Ueda later confirmed The Last Guardian to be related to the two previous installments. In an interview with G4tv.com in 2009 he expressed admiration for the method of cut-scene storytelling in Valve's Half-Life 2, and when questioned directly expressed an interest in making a first person game. 2010s: genDESIGN He left Sony in December 2011, although remained under contract to finish works on The Last Guardian. After years of development hell, The Last Guardian, was announced for release on October 25, 2016 during Sony’s presentation at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016 in June, but then later delayed to December 6, 2016. Influences and style He described himself as a very inquisitive child saying "I enjoyed catching and keeping living things, such as fish or birds. Other than that, I liked both watching and making animation. Basically, I seemed to be interested in things that moved." Among his favorite subjects in school was art: a discipline which still plays an active role in Ueda’s life, and which under different circumstances could have led to an alternate choice of occupation. "If I was not in the games industry, I would want to become a classical artist. Though I regard not only games but also anything that expresses something – be it films, novels or manga – as forms of art." Ueda played a lot of Sega Mega Drive games, which influenced his work. He is also known to have been a fan of the Amiga computer platformer games Flashback, and Another World during his teenage years. Games that influenced his work include The Legend of Zelda, Virtua Fighter, and Prince of Persia. Ueda’s games are considered to have a very distinctive style, which Ueda himself describes as "design by subtraction", with sparse landscapes, oversaturated lighting and minimalist story to give his games a personal and distinctive feel. Ueda also admitted that, in video games, ideas for a gameplay mechanic should be made first, then complemented by a game’s story. In 2008, IGN, included Ueda in Top 100 Game Creators of All Time, saying "Ueda’s knack for creating atmospheric puzzle playgrounds with mute or near-mute characters instills a sense of isolation, yet provides an endearing feeling of hope as the protagonists seek simply to find an exodus or redemption from their weather-worn, ornate prisons". Works * D no Shokutaku: Director’s Cut (1996) ･ Animator * Enemy Zero (1997) ･ Animator * Ico (2001) ･ Director/Lead Designer/Lead Animator/Art Director * Shadow of the Colossus (2005) ･ Director/Writer/Lead Designer * The Last Guardian (2016) ･ Director/Lead Designer/Producer References External links * Official website Category:Japanese video game directors Category:Japanese video game designers Category:Living people Category:Osaka University of Arts alumni Category:1970 births